Jeremias 3:1
It is commonly said: If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and marry another man, shall he return to her any more? shall not that woman be polluted, and defiled? but thou hast prostituted thyself to many lovers: nevertheless return to me, saith the Lord, and I will receive thee.
Open Jeremias 3:1 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Vulgo dicitur : Si dimiserit vir uxorem suam, et recedens ab eo duxerit virum alterum, numquid revertetur ad eam ultra ? numquid non polluta et contaminata erit mulier illa ? Tu autem fornicata es cum amatoribus multis : tamen revertere ad me, dicit Dominus, et ego suscipiam te.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- Ἐὰν ἐξαποστείλῃ ἀνὴρ τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀπέλθῃ ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ καὶ γένηται ἀνδρὶ ἑτέρῳ, μὴ ἀνακάμπτουσα ἀνακάμψει πρὸς αὐτὸν ἔτι; οὐ μιαινομένη μιανθήσεται ἡ γυνὴ ἐκείνη; καὶ σὺ ἐξεπόρνευσας ἐν ποιμέσιν πολλοῖς, καὶ ἀνέκαμπτες πρὸς μέ; λέγει Κύριος.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- לֵאמֹ֡ר הֵ֣ן יְשַׁלַּ֣ח אִ֣ישׁ אֶת אִשְׁתּוֹ֩ וְהָלְכָ֨ה מֵאִתּ֜וֹ וְהָיְתָ֣ה לְאִישׁ אַחֵ֗ר הֲיָשׁ֤וּב אֵלֶ֨יהָ֙ ע֔וֹד הֲל֛וֹא חָנ֥וֹף תֶּחֱנַ֖ף הָאָ֣רֶץ הַהִ֑יא וְאַ֗תְּ זָנִית֙ רֵעִ֣ים רַבִּ֔ים וְשׁ֥וֹב אֵלַ֖י נְאֻם יְהֹוָֽה
Haydock's commentary
It. Hebrew, "a saying." Septuagint, "If," &c., Deuteronomy xxiv. 1. (Haydock)
Woman. Hebrew, "land."
Lovers. Septuagint, "shepherds," (Calmet) seeking aid from idols and foreigners.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Basil The Letters, To Amphilochius, concerning the Canons
IX. The sentence of the Lord that it is unlawful to withdraw from wedlock, save on account of fornication, applies, according to the argument, to men and women alike. Custom, however, does not so obtain. Yet, in relation with women, very strict expressions are to be found; as, for instance, the words of the apostle “He which is joined to a harlot is one body” and of Jeremiah, If a wife “become another man’s shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted?” And again, “He that hath an adulteress is a fool and impious.” Yet custom ordains that men who commit adultery and are in fornication be retained by their wives. …
St Basil The Letters, To Amphilochius, concerning the Canons
XXI. If a man living with a wife is not satisfied with his marriage and falls into fornication, I account him a fornicator, and prolong his period of punishment. Nevertheless, we have no canon subjecting him to the charge of adultery, if the sin be committed against an unmarried woman. For the adulteress, it is said, “being polluted shall be polluted,” and she shall not return to her husband: and “He that keepeth an adulteress is a fool and impious.” He, however, who has committed fornication is not to be cut off from the society of his own wife. So the wife will receive the husband on his return from fornication, but the husband will expel the polluted woman from his house. The argument here is not easy, but the custom has so obtained.
St Gregory the Great The Book of Pastoral Rule, How those are to be admonished who have had experience of the sins of the flesh, and those who have not
Those who have had experience of the sins of the flesh are to be admonished to observe vigilantly with how great benevolence God opens the bosom of His pity to us, if after transgressions we return to Him, when He says through the prophet, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him and become another man’s, shall he return to her again? Shall not that woman be polluted and contaminated? But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the Lord ( Jer. iii. 1 ). So, concerning the wife who has played the harlot and is deserted, the argument of justice is put forward: and yet to us returning after fall not justice, but pity is displayed. …